The Ritual
by MariskaMania
Summary: When a string of men are mutilated and murdered, witch craft, covens and specially designed rituals are formed, the SVU detectives have their work cut out trying to find 6 magical perps.


**A/N: SVU does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters. This story belongs to me, as do the characters I have made up. Please take a minute to review this story as I'm always looking at ways to improve my writing; if you don't have a fanfic account, please feel free to tweet me MariskaMania – Thank you.**

"I repent you of your sins against Mother Nature. You will be drained of your evil blood and sacrificed to the Earth. Your blood will spill and cleanse your soul of all the wrong doing you have done. Drayton Mills, I release you."

As five candle flames flickered in the dimly lit room, Drayton's muffled cries could barely be heard. His mouth had a rag pushed in it, he could smell the wax burning around him. Six women dressed in white hooded robes held hands around him, an altar had been built in his spacious penthouse. The women around him began chanting, "Drayton Mills, we release you." Their chants got louder each time they repeated it. Drayton was sweating, his forehead beading; he looked at the woman who had spoken to him initially. She had sapphire eyes and bright auburn hair; her eyes were soft, but her words were not. The circle broke, the red head stepped forward, she pricked her finger and let two drops of blood fall to the terrified man's body, she looked in his eyes, she saw the tears in the corners of both eyes, "I call upon the Goddess to free this man of his dirty soul. I ask you, the Goddess, to cleanse this man of his sins, as he joins you."

His chest was bare, his breathing became erratic. Each woman stepped forward, pricked their fingers and each of them in turn said their own piece.

A blonde woman stepped forward next, as her blood hit the man's stomach, she spoke; "Oh mighty Goddess of the Earth, please accept this man with open arms and welcome him to your eternal love and free being."

A third woman stepped forward, she called for the Goddess to accept the man in the power of the ocean. The forth woman asked that he may be accepted by the power of fire, the fifth asked that he be accepted by the air that surrounds them. The sixth pricked her finger, she stood at the man's feet, as she spilled her blood, the red head doused a cloth in a small black cauldron; she laid it on Drayton's forehead. He started to convulse, blood spilled at his lips, it bubbled and dribbled down his cheek and down his neck. The women joined hands once more and began chanting, "To the mighty Goddess, take this soul and leave his body. Free his spirit."

* * *

/

"Have you heard?" Munch asked as he spotted Olivia walking in to the one six.

Olivia shot him a look, she hadn't heard, she'd just got in.

"Drayton Mills the big shot executive was murdered in his home last night."

"The guy who made all the papers?"

"That's the guy! Executive to the Mayor; used all his wages and then the tax payers money to hook up with prostitutes. Good to know my money is going to good use!" Munch said with his usual sarcasm, but there was a distain in his voice.

Olivia gave a small smile to Munch, then headed to the Captain's office, she knocked on the door, and on his command, entered.

"Olivia, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering where Elliot was, I haven't heard from him," she paused, "Have you?"

"Elliot's at a crime scene, this needs the utmost discretion Olivia, can I trust you with this?"

Olivia was slightly annoyed Cragen had even asked her that, but nodded anyway, "Of course."

"I want you to go to Drayton Mills apartment. You tell no one, not Fin or Munch. This stays between me, you and Elliot."

"Sir, with all possible respect, why?"

"This order has come straight from the Mayor, it's over my head Olivia."

Olivia nodded again, she grabbed her coat and drove over to the police guarded house. She made her way up to the top floor, the penthouse was furnished with an amazing array of modern gadgets, every surface was stainless steel, nothing was out of place. Except of course the body that lay mutilated on the floor.

Elliot spotted Olivia and made his way over to her, "Great views."

"Yeah, minus the body."

"The maid came in this morning and found him there, she called the police straight away. She said nothing is out of place, apart from the broom in the corner. Apparently, it's not hers, and unlikely Mills would've bought it for her."

Olivia looked at the body of Drayton Mills and noted the blood drops on his chest. "We might be able to get a DNA profile off the blood."

"Wishful thinking Liv, according to Warner, that wasn't dropped accidentally."

"You mean someone dripped their blood on him? What're you thinking? Ritual?"

"Maybe, right now I'm trying to get over my disliking of the man to think about what happened to him." Elliot looked down at the man's face, the terror still fixed in his cold, lifeless eyes. "The amount of times he's been in the papers for sleeping with underage girls and prostitutes, and we couldn't touch him; and now, now he's the victim, it's discretion this and hush hush. I don't like it Liv."

Olivia agreed, "Paying taxes so he can get laid. I don't like it either."

Olivia looked at Drayton's body, he was placed on the floor naked. There was one thing wrong with this picture besides the fact the man was dead with six drops of blood on his torso, Drayton Mills was missing his penis.

"Guys, I think we've found his, y'know."

Olivia turned to face the young uniformed officer, "His penis officer."

The officer nodded, "Yes ma'am. Officer Cessna ma'am." The man was young, in his twenties Olivia estimated. His eyes were a rich chocolate brown that seemed to warm her a little.

Olivia and Elliot were shocked as they entered the bedroom, a part of Drayton was laying on the pillow surrounded by newspaper clippings.

"Revenge killing?" Officer Cessna said breaking the silence.

Elliot hadn't realised he'd been followed in to the room, "It's possible. It's definitely personal."

"It could be one of the hookers he hooked up with, maybe he gave her something; like an STI."

Olivia was impressed with Cessna, "It may well be, whoever did this wanted to make a statement."

Warner took the body to the morgue, Olivia and Elliot combed the apartment for any sign of anything, nothing jumped out at them. The detectives took the broom, it was, at the moment the only evidence of anyone else in that apartment.

* * *

/

Olivia had pulled the broom apart, straw was laid out in a bundle on the table she was using, twigs plucked individually from a willow tree lay in a bundle of their own. She noted there was nothing special about it. Then she moved on to the wooden stem of the broom. Again, it was nothing special; seeing it was hollow the detective took it upon herself to crack it open. The wood split easily, inside was a piece of parchment; before Olivia could read it, Elliot had joined her in the small room off the one six.

"I see you're having fun!" Elliot smiled before curiosity captured his attention. "What's that?"

"Just about to find out." Olivia said walking to Elliot's side so he could read it too.

'I sweep out the bad, I use the willow to protect the women of this world and the next against you. Drayton Mills, we repent you.'

Olivia and Elliot stood in silence for a moment, "Witch craft." Elliot stated.

"I'm going to do some research in to the craft," Olivia walked over to her desk and began typing on her computer. She searched through hundreds of websites, found a lot of rituals; but none of them even came close to anything Drayton Mills appeared to have suffered.

"What you working on there?" Munch asked standing next to Olivia's desk.

Olivia looked up, "Nothing interesting, Caps got me researching for the afternoon."

Munch nodded, "Rumour has it, you and El have the Mills case!"

Olivia looked at him, not wanting to lie, she raised an eyebrow and said nothing. She printed out her findings and took them back to Elliot.

"No matches, there is nothing exact."

"I think I've worked it out, or part of it at least. Mills was always in the papers right, and clippings were around his pillow. Say an ex is part of a coven of witches, she wants revenge and gets her coven to cleanse him."

Staying completely in tune with Elliot, Olivia nodded, "The reason I couldn't find their ritual online, is because it's not commonly used in the craft. They have their own ritual." Olivia paused, "Specifically designed for Mills."


End file.
